A family in a South Pasadena neighborhood were counting their lucky stars Sunday after a minivan driven by a suspected drunken driver plowed through the front door of their home.
“I heard a big, loud boom,” said Carmen Gillespie, who roused her family out of bed at 2:30 a.m. “I just started yelling, ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’ to get everyone up.”
There was no fire but the wake up call worked.
No one was hurt in the crash that was so strong the minivan went halfway into their living room.
“The cabinet in kitchen got smashed in that's how hard impact was,” said Gillespie.
The driver, identified as 24-year old Veronica Villanueva of Rosemead, was booked into custody on a drunken driving charge, police said.
The crash happened at 2:23 a.m. when Villanueva was driving north on Raymond Avenue. She failed to negotiate a turn onto Alhambra Road, jumped the curb and crashed into the home, officials said.
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Nine people were inside. No one was hurt.
“She drove the minivan through the front door of the house,” said South Pasadena Fire Department Capt. Richard Jenkins.
Skid marks were visible straight toward the home.
The crash destroyed Gillespie’s dining room table and disintegrated all but one of their chairs, including a church bench. But remarkably, there wasn’t a scratch on the saint that sits in front of their home.
